Without Rain
by Mittens no Hikari
Summary: [Oneshot] Yugi's friends are drifting away from him, and he can't understand why. A veryslightlyansgty oneshot, but it has a happy ending. So those who dislike happy endings, do not read!


Hi everyone! This is my first Fan Fiction, a kinda angsty little one-shot about Yugi. (It has a happy ending though.) Please, if you hate it, don't hurt my feelings too badly.  
  
Disclaimer: I hate to disillusion all of you, but I- unfortunately- do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters. *sniffle*  
  
Read and Review!  
  
WITHOUT RAIN  
  
Yugi darted through the overcrowded halls of Domino High, dodging right and left and all the while wishing fervently he was tall enough to see over the crowd. 'Where are Joey, Tea, and Tristan?' he wondered. 'They never told me where we were meeting. I hope they didn't do it on purpose...' Yugi shook his head, trying to clear his mind of those kinds of thoughts. But the fact remained- his friends had been rather cold and distant over the past week or so.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"Hey Joey, want to do something today?" Yugi asked cheerfully.  
  
"Huh? Uh, I s'pose we could-"  
  
"Hey Joey!" came Tristan's voice. "Want to hang at the arcade?"  
  
"Sure!" Joey shouted. Without even glancing at Yugi, he said, "Catch ya some other time, 'kay?"  
  
"But I-" Yugi began. He stopped. No one was listening anyway.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
Yugi grabbed his lunch bag and made his way into the overcrowded cafeteria. Looking around, he tried to spot his friends. 'There!'  
  
He finally made it to the table and was about to take one of the empty seats, when-  
  
"Hey, anyone using these?"  
  
Duke Devlin was pointing to both of the empty chairs.  
  
"No, go ahead!" said Tea, smiling brightly at him, ignoring the crushed teen beside her. Yugi watched sadly as Duke dragged the chairs across the lunchroom. Head lowered, he left the cafeteria, tossing his lunch into the trash as he passed. He wasn't that hungry anyway.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
A jolt of pain ran up Yugi's foot as Tristan stepped on him. Hot chocolate sloshed onto his uniform and face, burning him.  
  
"Yugi! Why are you always in the way?" groaned Tristan, rolling his eyes and ignoring Yugi's stammered apology.  
  
*Present*  
  
Yugi felt a hot burning behind his eyelids. "I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't! No one likes a crybaby!" he murmured to himself. 'No one likes you anyway,' a little voice whispered. Yugi shook his head, trying to banish that thought. Going up behind them, he said softly, "Hi..."  
  
"Oh, hey," Joey said, not even bothering to glance back. "So anyway, see you guys tonight?"  
  
Tristan and Tea nodded. "Yeah, we'll be there," said Tristan. "And don't tell anyone else- we don't want any annoying tag-alongs."  
  
Yugi's eyes opened wide as if he'd been stung. 'Annoying tag-alongs? Is that all that I am now? An annoying tag-along?' Tears brimming in his sweet violet eyes, he dropped his book bag with a loud crash and darted down the halls and out the door. He thought he heard someone call his name, but he ran on. The sky was gray and overcast, and a wind ruffled Yugi's hair as he ran. 'Forget the books, forget walking home after school, forget everything. Forget me.'  
  
//Yugi, I'm sure they didn't mean that.//  
  
/Yami, I don't want to talk right now. It's been like this weather with them! Gray, cold, dim, overcast, you name it! I'm sick of it being nothing but rain!/ He wiped roughly at his face. /It hurts me. It hurts when the friends I thought would help make things bright bring thunderstorms on me! Plus.../ he sniffled. /I'm only getting in their way. They don't need me./  
  
//Yugi, that's not true and you know it. And all friendships have rocky places. Think about what I'm saying. Without rain-//  
  
Yugi cut off the link suddenly, but Yami couldn't feel hurt or indignant. He understood his hikari was hurt deeply- and rightfully so! Yami felt himself growing angry at those who had treated his little light this way, but sighed, resigned. There was nothing he could do now.  
  
Yugi slowed from a sprint to a jog to a walk. Finally he just collapsed, defeated, onto a park bench. 'Maybe they have a point,' he thought. 'I'm just an annoying little tag-along, a wannabe. But...' he was crying now. 'I thought they really liked me. I didn't think that...' he left his thought unfinished. Rain began to fall, at first lightly, then in torrents. Yugi didn't care. He didn't move from his secluded bench. The rain mingled with the salty tears on his face. 'Perfect weather to match my friendships now,' he thought sadly. His small form was shaking, wracked with a combination of shivers and sobs. His violet eyes shimmered with tears. 'Without rain, things would be great! Without rain I wouldn't be feeling like this! Without rain... I'd...' he closed his eyes. 'Without... rain...' he was asleep.  
  
*30 minutes before*  
  
"Yugi?"  
  
Joey was startled to see Yugi go darting down the hall, leaving his bookbag behind. "What's with him?"  
  
"Don't know," Tristan said thoughtfully. "Unless..." his eyes widened. "Did either of you guys tell him where we were gonna meet today?"  
  
Wide-eyed, Tea and Joey shook their heads simultaneously. "And then-" Tea groaned. "He must have heard your comment about 'annoying tag-alongs' and assumed that since he hadn't been invited, he was included in that statement."  
  
"But Yugi knows we're his friends," Joey said, confused. "He knows we wouldn't say anything like that about him."  
  
"Don't count on it."  
  
Tea had found a crumpled sheet of looseleaf paper that had fallen out of Yugi's knapsack. She was looking at it, eyes wide and full of tears. Joey and Tristan moved behind her to read with her, and were stunned at the words that followed.  
  
"This is to no one. I don't see why anyone would care about reading this. It's just so I don't have to keep my feelings bottled up inside. I'm not depressed or anything major like that. I've dealt with having no friends before- I can deal again, I think. Joey and Tea and Tristan haven't been paying much attention to me. Not that I can blame them- they're busy and have other important things to do. It's only that I thought for a while I would have friends forever. They've kind of been ignoring me... drifting away. It's like I'm not there, or there as a shadow on the wall. I don't have a place to sit at lunch, a partner for biology labs, or a friend to hang with after school. I don't know... I just wanted to get this out... I'm okay now."  
  
Yugi's neat signature was scrawled at the bottom.  
  
For a moment no one spoke. Then Joey broke the silence. "He's right, y'know. We've been totally taking him for granted. When was the last time one of us said "hi" to him? Or saved a seat for him? Or even acknowledged his presence, for cryin' out loud?" Joey rarely cried, but he was crying now.  
  
"I feel like such a piece of crap," Tristan growled, smacking himself in the head.  
  
"Let's go find him," Tea urged. "We really must have hurt him. I don't want him to feel this bad a second longer then he has to. We were supposed to be there for him before! Let's be there now!"  
  
And with this slightly corny battle cry, they dashed out of school into the pouring rain.  
  
*Dream*  
  
"Hi! Yugi! What's new?"  
  
Yugi's three friends greeted him with cheerful smiles. He smiled back. Sunshine. This was what friendship should feel like. Suddenly he tripped, smacking the girl in the face with his backpack.  
  
"Sorry!" he said, horrified. She kept smiling. "That's okay! Let's go!"  
  
Yugi blinked. "Um... okay."  
  
They went to the arcade. Yugi won time and time again. Each time, his friends had the same thing to say. "Great job! That was fun! I'm glad we're friends!"  
  
It was starting to feel fake. Where was the good-natured ribbing? The insults? The variety? Sure, sunshine was one thing...  
  
Yugi suddenly said loudly, "What if I told you we weren't friends anymore?"  
  
His friends blinked. "That's great! I'm glad you feel comfortable enough with us to be so truly honest! No hard feelings!"  
  
This was ridiculous. And monotonous. "But... wouldn't you try and stop me from leaving?"  
  
"Nope! We wouldn't want to make you feel bad! That might cause a fight!"  
  
Sunshine. 'Without rain...' he found himself thinking. 'Without rain...'  
  
He woke with a start, deep in thought. 'Without rain...'  
  
*Present*  
  
"There he is!" shouted Tea over the clap of thunder. Joey swore under his breath. Yugi looked miserable- and wet. Finally they reached him. He looked up, startled, fear and hurt in his violet eyes.  
  
"Yugecanyoueverforgiveusweareallsosososorry!"  
  
Yugi blinked, his confusion evident. "What?"  
  
The rain was beginning to let up. Joey threw an arm around Yugi's wet shoulders. "Yuge, we found your note and we realized just how bad we've been treating you."  
  
Tea slid to sit beside him on his other side, crying. "Oh Yugi, you shouldn't have let us treat you like that! We've been taking you totally for granted! You know you're worth more than that!"  
  
Tristan squeezed Yugi's shoulder. "I never thought you'd think I meant you were an annoying tag-along! We meant to invite you- it's just, we've been getting so self-centered we all forgot."  
  
"So... you don't hate me or anything? You're not... not sick of me?" Yugi dared to let himself hope, his uncertainty reflected in his soft voice and sweet face.  
  
"Oh, Yuge. 'Course not! We'll never be sick of you, buddy! You're the greatest friend we've ever had, and we're all sorry we've been such imbeciles!" Joey's voice broke once as he ventured, "Can you ever forgive us?"  
  
Yugi grinned, his eyes glowing like living amythests. "Of course! I've missed you guys so much!" He let out a giddy laugh as he and his friends shared a friendly, albeit wet, group hug.  
  
"But I still can't believe we were such jerks," muttered Tristan. "It must have been like all we did was ruin the brightness of your day- you know, like rain on your parade."  
  
A glimmer of sunlight shone through the clouds, illuminating the dripping foliage and making puddles sparkle like diamonds. Yugi smiled broadly as he managed to finish the thought that had been buzzing in his head for some time now.  
  
"It's okay, guys. All relationships have good and bad days. Too much sun can be monotonous, and you never get the joy of making up after a storm. And besides-" the small teen gestured to the sky behind them. Turning, they were stunned to see broad bands of color sweeping the rapidly clearing sky, the hues richer than any they'd ever seen before. "And besides- without rain, there'd be no rainbows."  
  
THE END  
  
Well...? What did you all think? Am I hopeless or was it okay? Please review, but don't be too too harsh! Adios, mis amigos! ^_^ 


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